Neeraj Ghaywan had initially wanted to cast Manoj Bajpayee and Rajkummar Rao in the critically acclaimed film Masaan. The 2015 film also marked Vicky Kaushal's first leading role in Bollywood.
Helmed by Neeraj Ghaywan in his directorial debut, the 2015 film starred Vicky Kaushal, Richa Chadha, Sanjay Mishra, Shweta Tripathi, and Pankaj Tripathi in the main roles. The emotional drama film won over the hearts of the audiences through its honest and pure storytelling and brilliant performances.
Masaan was also the first leading role of Vicky Kaushal after he had made brief appearances in the 2012 film Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana and the 2015 film Bombay Velvet. And it would have been possible that he would have to wait more for his debut as the leading hero, as Vicky was not Neeraj's first choice for the film.
In an interview with PTI before the film's release in 2015, Neeraj had stated, "While writing the script, I already had Richa in my mind. After Richa, I wanted to cast Shweta Tripathi working on the script then Sanjay Mishraji came in. Actually, Manoj Bajpai and Rajkumar Rao were supposed to be there in the film but dates did not work out. (But) I am happy with the casting."
The Uri actor corrobarated this fact when he came to The Kapil Sharma Show in December 2022, when he revealed how he bagged Masaan. Talking to the show's host Kapil Sharma, Vicky said, "This dates back to 2010 when I wanted to become an actor and Neeraj Ghaywan wanted to pursue direction. We both started our journey together as assistant directors in Gangs of Wasseypur. So, post that I started doing theatre to enhance my acting skills. In 2013, we met again while travelling to Pune and we started talking about life and work."
"During the conversation, I got to know that he is making a film and is in search of a producer but is struggling with it. He then shared that he has made a pilot promo on the film with Rajkummar Rao. Owing to Masaan's tight budget, they could not create a mela, but had to wait to shoot a real one. The mela in Benaras usually happens in the month of October and there were some issues with Raj's dates so there was a vacancy for that role, and I jumped right into it. After giving auditions, I was finally selected for that role", he concluded.
Vicky was hugely praised for his impeccable performance in the film, which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Ghaywan also ended up winning the Indira Gandhi National Award for Best Debut Film of a Director. After Masaan, Neeraj hasn't made his second full-length feature film yet.
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